Is This a Comedy?

Recently, I heard on NPR, the tail end of a brief story about two adult men whose father went missing while canoeing five years ago. The boys no doubt went through a great deal of grief but recently found out that their father is quite alive and in Panama. And, it turns out, their mother knew it the whole time. Can you say a-w-k-w-a-r-d Christmas?

Instantly I thought – wow, that’s a story! But what kind of story? Ten writers would have ten different answers. What if William Goldman wrote it? Akiva Goldsman? P.T Anderson? And that's not even wondering what a director might do. Imagine this brief premise made into a movie by the Coen Brothers. Or Frank Darabont. Or Martin Scorsese.

The questions that immediately arise are – is this a comedy? Tragedy? What era is it set in? Who is the main character – the father? Or the sons? Which son? Is it a revenge story? Is it ineluctably sad like ORDINARY PEOPLE or is it CASTAWAY meets DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR with a canoe?

These types of decisions need to be predicated largely on three things: what turns you on most as a writer about the newsclipping, what your strengths are as a writer, and – most importantly, sorry to say – the market.

How do you know what kind of box office your idea would do? Well, we know that message movies and dramas are Oscar bait. We know that quirky comedies are lower budget and will attract cool, on-the-cusp actors like Ellen Page or Jason Schwartzman, we know that middle America loves a feel-good tearjerker with a universal message about the enduring power of love and family – but what movie do YOU want to write? What will keep you up late at night?

What is the first thing you felt, Wavers, when you read that first sentence about this particular event? Did you cringe? Laugh? Feel sad? What makes you curious about this story? Do you immediately wonder what kind of father would do this? Do you feel for him - is he a hero to you, is he like Harrison Ford in THE MOSQUITO COAST? Or is he a cold deadbeat? Do you picture a story set in Panama or do you picture the boys back in England, growing up without their dad and fantasizing, like TOTO THE HERO, that dad is a dashing adventurer?

So many movie ideas are out there waiting to make it into your writing mind. But once that snippet grabs your attention, then you get to take that wonderful literary license and craft a story out of it - predicated on what turns you on as a writer. What is your initial reaction to what you just read or heard? And how will that translate to the big screen?

Is this the next Reese Witherspoon movie? Is she the duplicitous mother telling her boys she has no idea where dad is? Nah. She's too young for that role. Is it bankable to center on the mother? Or is this a vehicle for Tom Cruise to play a father who lets down his boys? Can he play age 30 to 40? What if you make that father Bill Murray? Or Tommy Lee Jones? See how the story idea morphs slightly when you insert different actors into the role? Wait until you find exactly the right road in to the story and then start outlining.

It's all right if you find something about this story funny - comedy is just coping with tragedy. And maybe that's the less obvious way in. Or not. Isn't it fun being a writer?

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